Australia cancels series in human rights protest

Cricket Australia has made the decision to postpone its three-match men's T20I series against Afghanistan which was scheduled for August.

The decisions comes after the Australian government's advice that 'conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan are getting worse', according to a CA statement.

It's the third time CA has made the decision to postpone matches against Afghanistan after making the same ruling on an ODI series that was scheduled for March last year.

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After making the call on last year's series, CA said it related directly to the marked deterioration in human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

"(We will) continue to engage with the Afghanistan Cricket Board in anticipation of improved conditions for women and girls in the country," CA said at the time.

Due to no sign of progress on this issue, the same position has been maintained.

"CA continues its strong commitment to supporting participation by women and girls in cricket around the world and will continue to actively engage the International Cricket Council and work closely with the Afghanistan Cricket Board to determine what actions could be taken to support the resumption of bilateral matches in the future," the statement read.

"We again thank the Australian government for its support."

Australia's most recent match against Afghanistan was at the ODI World Cup in November when Glenn Maxwell smashed a double-century.

However, Australia has never played against Afghanistan outside of an ICC event, previously stating "there is a distinction between playing bilateral series against Afghanistan which falls under CA control as compared to playing in a World Cup tournament which is an ICC event and subject to their regulations."

Australia has previously cancelled a one-off Test match against Afghanistan in November 2021 along with the ODI series in 2023.

After the decision last year, Afghanistan star Rashid Khan signalled his intent to withdraw from the BBL. 

"I am really disappointed to hear that Australia have pulled out of the series to play us in March," he said at the time.

"If playing Afghanistan is so uncomfortable for Australia, then I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable with my presence in the BBL. Therefore, I will be strongly considering my future in that competition."

Khan ended up playing in the tournament.